Vileplume/GSC
Oddish can be found in the Ilex Forest, as well as in Routes 24 and 25, in all three games. In Gold and Silver, it is also available on Routes 5 and 6, and Gloom is also available on Route 5. In Crystal, Gloom is also available on Route 24. This line is a nightly encounter. A Leaf Stone may be obtained from Bill's grandfather by showing him an Oddish. Further Leaf Stones may be obtained, only in Crystal, from Picnicker Gina on Route 34, after giving her the player's number. A wealth of annoying moves, yet nearly nothing for STAB. The eternal problem of the Oddish line. They're great catchers, and have fairly well-rounded stats overall, but they're hard to train due to both their lacking movepool and the general unkindness Johto has in store for Grass-types. Choosing Vileplume over Bellossom carries a number of advantages: it keeps the STAB on Sludge Bomb, which is easily the handiest of the easily accessible moves in the game (except Return, which works better on Bellossom than Sludge Bomb does), and a different set of weaknesses and resistances, which weighs in Vileplume's favour a lot more often than it does in Bellossom's favour. However, for Gold and Silver players, this may or may not be a forced choice: Leaf Stones are only available in the postgame. Only Crystal players may obtain a Leaf Stone at around the same time when the Sun Stone rolls around, from Picknicker Gina... and obtaining said stone is no easy task. Using Vileplume is definitely not easy, and there won't be very many fights in which it proves itself useful. Still, it's by no means bad, and does fairly well in the Kanto half of the game, thanks to its improved movepool. Players looking for a moderately challenging run will not be disappointed. Important Matchups Johto * Gym #2 - Bugsy (Azalea Town, Bug-type): It is not wise to use Oddish in this battle, unless it's just to defeat Metapod. The best it can do is use one of the powder moves and then leave the battlefield. However, if it already has Stun Spore or Sleep Powder, it can be useful to shut down Scyther for a few turns and/or cripple its Speed, before a teammate takes it out; if the sleep turns are enough, or if the paralysis kicks in, Fury Cutter damage will not stack to dangerous amounts. * Rival (Azalea Town): Gastly only has Lick to deal damage, though its resistance to Grass and immunity to poisoning will make it a bothersome opponent. Avoid Zubat, as it can confuse and flinchhax Oddish to death with a combination of Supersonic and Bite; if you absolutely must, put it to sleep or paralyse it, then switch out. For obvious reasons, Oddish should never fight Quilava, though the matchup against Croconaw is not too bad - if it manages to sleep or paralyse it, as it has Rage and that can also stack for serious damage - and Bayleef should be really easy to wear down with PoisonPowder, albeit slowly. * Gym #3 - Whitney (Goldenrod City, Normal-type): Oddish can possibly defeat Clefairy, assuming that its Metronome doesn't pull a Sacred Fire or some other strong super effective move. Gloom will have less of a problem beating it. Miltank is out of the question for both, they don't have strong enough attacks to deal with it, not even Return. Vileplume, however, has a good shot at fighting Miltank thanks to its bulk, and with a combination of Return and Sleep Powder (or Stun Spore) it should be able to avoid high-power Rollout streaks while whittling down the cow's health and slowly depleting its Milk Drink PP. * Rival (Burned Tower): Gloom or Vileplume should avoid Haunter, as it has the deadly combination of Mean Look and Curse. Zubat, on the other hand, is more feasible now if you have Cut or Return; Acid is not too bad either, as it still has no STAB whatsoever. Still, careful with confusion and flinchhax. Magnemite is not a good opponent: it won't take much damage from Absorb and cannot be poisoned, and its SonicBoom hurts a lot. Follow the same guidelines with Quilava and Bayleef; Croconaw should be easier now. * Gym #4 - Morty (Ecruteak City, Ghost-type): It's much, much better to not rely on Gloom here. Vileplume may manage to absorb more hits, but it's still essentially powerless. When your best move, Return, is something the enemy is immune to, and your second best option is a base-40 power STAB move that they doubly resist, you know for a fact you're giving yourself a really hard time for no good reason. * Eusine (Cianwood City, Crystal only): Drowzee is not Gloom's fight. Haunter, once again, has a dangerous Curse trap combo, and Gloom or Vileplume should avoid it. Gloom is at odds with Electrode as well, due to its high (at this point in the game) Special Defense and SonicBoom, while Vileplume has better chances of success, especially if supported by Return. * Gym #5 - Chuck (Cianwood City, Fighting-type): The resistance to Fighting comes in very handy in this battle, but only Vileplume's greater bulk and attacking power will grant the player a clean sweep. Both Gloom and Vileplume can absorb Primeape's Karate Chop and Poliwrath's Surf well, though Poliwrath's DynamicPunch may turn out dangerous for Gloom if it hits, mostly due to the annoying confusion. Try to paralyse them or put them to sleep, then wear them down with Return or (if you already have it) Sludge Bomb. * Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): Neither Gloom nor Vileplume are fit to defeat the Magnemite, as they have not very effective moves to hit them with, at best. Steelix is neutral to Grass, but at this point, unless you overtrained plentifully for Petal Dance, the best you have is Absorb, so avoid that too. * Rocket Executive battle #1 (Team Rocket HQ): Both Gloom and Vileplume can nail the Zubat with Return. Only Vileplume can take on Koffing and Raticate safely, however, and Koffing can still SelfDestruct, which makes it dangerous even for Vileplume (although less so). Raticate's main threat is Hyper Fang, just mind that. * Rocket Executive battle #2 (Team Rocket HQ): Return is a good weapon to have against Arbok and Gloom, though both evolutionary stages should stay clear of Murkrow's Peck and Pursuit. It is advised that Gloom get out of the battlefield before Murkrow enters it. Vileplume can take a Pursuit on the switch. * Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): Neither Gloom nor Vileplume should come anywhere near this gym. STAB Ice moves hurt no matter the stats, and Petal Dance is not yet available, making Absorb - the only Grass option - nothing short of ridiculous. * Rocket Executive battle #3 (Goldenrod Radio Tower): He has a team of five Koffing and a Weezing, all of which can explode, and neither Gloom nor Vileplume should fight them. * Rival (Goldenrod Underground): Pretty bad overall. Haunter is still difficult to take on, and should not be attempted; Magnemite is the same. Golbat is now evolved and has Wing Attack, stay very far away from it. Sneasel strangely has no Ice STAB, so both Gloom and Vileplume can take it on. Quilava is a no in both cases, Meganium is easy in both cases especially with Sludge Bomb, and lastly Feraligatr should only be battled by Vileplume, as Gloom will take significant damage from its physical moves and Bite. * Rocket Executive battle #4 (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Arbok and Vileplume return, and Return and Sludge Bomb respectively deal with them pretty well; her Vileplume is by no means the ideal matchup for Gloom, but if you also have a Vileplume, you will have an edge thanks to Sludge Bomb, as her own only knows Acid besides Absorb. Murkrow must still be avoided. * Rocket Executive battle #5 (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Absolutely do not fight Houndour and Houndoom against the second executive, they will destroy you. His Koffing, on the other hand, is safe because it can't explode. * Suicune (Bell Tower, Crystal only): Suicune has Gust. Gloom won't like it, but Vileplume can take it. You can whittle it down with Absorb in hopes of catching it, helping yourself with Sleep Powder. * Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): One of the Dragonair has Ice Beam, but it's not the lead. Gloom is too weak to fight them, but Vileplume can pull off a victory if it manages to poison with Sludge Bomb, though DragonBreath has the same paralysis chance and it will be annoying if it hits. Kingdra's Hyper Beam is nothing to sneeze at. If you absolutely need Vileplume to fight it, hope for the poisoning more than ever and pray you don't get hit by critical hits. * Rival (Victory Road): As usual: no to Golbat, Haunter, and the now-Magneton, as well as the now-Typhlosion. Gloom can't take on Kadabra, but Vileplume performs okay against it with a good physical move, whether that's Return or Sludge Bomb; still a risky matchup. Sneasel still has no Ice moves, so go ahead. Meganium can be tackled by both. Feraligatr should be attempted by Vileplume alone, or at worst, a Gloom with Petal Dance (which should already be a Vileplume either way). * Elite Four Will (Indigo Plateau, Psychic-type): Against Slowbro, only a Petal Dance Vileplume can have chances, as it will otherwise spam Curse and Amnesia and wreck your team with Body Slam. The rest of Will's team is neither for Gloom nor for Vileplume. Despite the great level difference, STAB Psychic will still make a huge dent, and Vileplume's low Speed doesn't help at all. * Elite Four Koga (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Literally everything, except for Muk, has a double resistance to Grass and either resists or is immune to Poison. However, oddly enough, the only one that has any Poison STAB is Muk. Vileplume can defeat Ariados and Venomoth with Return, but should avoid the aforementioned Muk due to its physical offensive and bulk, and also Crobat's Wing Attack. Forretress is nigh-untouchable: unless Vileplume has a strong Fire-type Hidden Power, it should be left to something else. Gloom MUST avoid everything. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): Not bad for Vileplume, which can reasonably put up a fight against Hitmontop, Hitmonchan and (completely destroy) Onix. Hitmonchan has Ice Punch and Fire Punch, but they'll do next to nothing. Still, these fights will take some time; try to poison your opponents. Hitmonlee and Machamp have a high Attack and strong STAB moves, which makes them harder to beat, but the Fighting resistance should serve you well here, providing you do have a Vileplume. * Elite Four Karen (Indigo Plateau, Dark-type): You can out-wall Umbreon with patience. Houndoom has super effective STABs and should be avoided, while Murkrow surprisingly lacks Flying moves, so it can be taken down with Sludge Bomb or Return. Likewise, her Vileplume is not a threat, but if you still have a Gloom it will nevertheless have the upper hand. Gengar is difficult; you can Curse-bait to lower its HP, but don't attack it directly because it has Destiny Bond. If you somehow still have Stun Spore, use that, or just Sleep Powder it and only attack it in the turn after the sleep, which is guaranteed to be a sleeping turn if it outspeeds Vileplume (which it most certainly will). Gloom can take on Umbreon and maybe Murkrow, but nothing else. * Champion Lance (Indigo Plateau, Flying-type): Everything either has moves that can hit Vileplume for super effective damage, and/or an Attack stat that is way too high for Vileplume's Defense to handle. It can probably manage a Hyper Beam from either Gyarados or one of the Dragonite, but you have to be very wary of their moves, as one of the non-ace Dragonite has Blizzard and the other has Thunder, and there's no way of telling which is which unless you already battled one of them. Sleep Powder and retreat, or just plain bench-sitting, could be the best options for this fight. Gloom is even more hopeless against everything this team has. Kanto From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed. * Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Finally, an easy battle for a Vileplume that either has Petal Dance or Giga Drain. Just get in there and destroy everything. * Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): Golbat, Magneton, Gengar, Typhlosion: nope. If you want to take on Feraligatr, be careful of its Slash. It won't kill Vileplume from full health, but it will leave a mark. Likewise, Alakazam is powerful now, so stay as far away as possible from it; you really don't want a STAB Psychic move hitting you. Sneasel and Meganium are easy for the same reasons as they've always been. * Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): Another big winner for Grass STAB. Starmie and Lapras both have Ice Beam, though, so bear that in mind and watch your health; Starmie will probably not kill you, but Lapras has STAB and might, so avoid fighting it unless you know you will outspeed. Quagsire and Golduck are easy, but Golduck's Psychic hits fairly hard. * Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Not the easiest fight, but doable. Vileplume should be significantly higher levelled, and can take an Explosion from full health unless it crits. If you already beat Erika, you will also have Giga Drain, which allows for some recovery and permits Vileplume to stay on the battlefield longer. Magneton, however, is annoying. Unless you're desperate, defeat it more quickly with something fitting. * Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Sludge Bomb is great to have in this gym. If you don't have Sludge Bomb, Return will also do. Apart from Victreebel, which may be somewhat annoying to defeat without major level difference, the rest goes down pretty easily and can barely hurt Vileplume. * Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): The Weezing have Sludge Bomb, and Crobat has Wing Attack. Despite their very low level, which makes them very killable with Return, Vileplume is unlikely to be the best candidate to take them down. Ariados and Venomoth, on the other hand, are about as inoffensive as Koga's; go ahead. * Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): Vileplume's special bulk does it many favours in battle, but not here. It can't absorb Psychic well at all, especially compared to its pure Grass cousin. Its usage in this matchup is not recommended, even with a significant level difference, because both Espeon and Alakazam will likely still outspeed you. * Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): Vileplume is by far not the best ally you could get here. It can't hit for much damage, and Blaine's Pokémon are strong. Avoid this matchup. * Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): The lead Pidgeot is not really Vileplume's cup of tea, nor is his Arcanine. Gyarados still has Hyper Beam, so tread with caution and only if you must; you should have an Electric move to fry it at this point. Likewise, you will need better coverage for Alakazam. Exeggutor and Rhydon are both easy targets that you can either OHKO or out-stall. * Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): Save for the fact that his Golbat has evolved, nothing much of his team has changed. Fight Sneasel and Meganium without worries, tread with caution against Feraligatr, and avoid everything else. * Red (Mt. Silver): Pikachu is nothing to Vileplume. As for Espeon, fighting it with Vileplume is about as wise as fighting an Alakazam with it, which is not at all. Venusaur only has Grass moves, which won't hurt much at all. Stay away from Charizard, and also Snorlax if you can, it can hit with Body Slam and its power is remarkable. Lastly, Blastoise is a mixed bag: it should be OHKOed by Petal Dance, but it can probably outspeed and Blizzard you first, which makes it risky. Moves Oddish starts with Absorb, and will also have Sweet Scent if caught at level 7 or higher. Then, it learns the three powder moves: PoisonPowder at level 14, Stun Spore at level 16 and Sleep Powder at level 18. Since it doesn't have much in the way of moves, you will likely want to keep all three for a while, together with Absorb. As Gloom, it learns Acid at level 24, which should replace one of the powder moves, preferably PoisonPowder; Sleep Powder is useful to dodge enemy attacks, while Stun Spore helps Gloom cripple the opponent's Speed. At level 35, Gloom learns Moonlight, which is not very useful if you can use healing items, and lastly, it gets Petal Dance at level 44. Vileplume has no level-up moves besides its starting moves, which cannot be remembered in this generation. The line unfortunately has a really poor TM assortment. Giga Drain is the only interesting move, and it's only available in Kanto, which means that if you don't want to wait until Petal Dance for the evolution, you WILL be stuck with just Absorb until Kanto. It is possible to run Sunny Day in combination with SolarBeam, but even this move is available only shortly before the Pokémon League challenge. Toxic is an option if you want to go the stall way, and it is greatly helped by Curse which, however, cannot be backed up by anything but Sludge Bomb and/or Normal coverage, and the best option in that department is Return. Recommended moveset: Petal Dance / Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Sleep Powder, Return Other Oddish's stats Gloom's stats Vileplume's stats * At what point in the game should I be evolved? If you're playing Gold and Silver, you have no choice but to wait until the Kanto segment, which means Gloom will be next to useless for a consistent part of the game. If you're playing Crystal, you can choose to either wait until Gloom learns Petal Dance, with the same disadvantage as Gold and Silver, or just evolve after it gets Acid at level 24 and wait until Kanto for proper Grass STAB. * How good is Vileplume in a Nuzlocke? It's better than Bellossom without a doubt, unless you're playing Gold and Silver and need to wait forever to evolve. It gets decent STAB during the game, even though Poison isn't the best offensive type. However, it's still a Grass-type in Johto, which is a region known for being unkind to Grass. * Weaknesses: Fire, Flying, Ice, Psychic * Resistances: Water, Electric, Fighting, Grass (x0.25) * Immunities: None * Neutralities: Normal, Rock, Ghost, Steel, Dragon, Dark, Bug, Poison, Ground Category:Gold/Silver/Crystal Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses